Indeed, during our last two days in Kuala Lumpur, we shopped till we dropped! We went to The Petronas Twin Towers again for some Shopping 101. The stores opened at 10:00 A.M. and we spent five hours straight inside, followed by quick lunch (Nandos!), followed by a trip to China Town…
China Town was incredible! It’s filled with counterfeit designer handbags, wallets, and electronics where you can find literally anything in decent quality. But the best part about it is that it’s all about bargaining! Before we went, we were told that if they offer to sell you a bag for $100, you should ask them not for 1/2 price, but for 1/3 price. So you say no, $30. If they don’t accept at first, which they probably wont, you just walk away until they start yelling after you. $50! You keep walking. Then they yell $45! $40! and they keep going down until they sell it at the price you want. But even then, you’re probably getting ripped off…
I saw a Jimmy Choo handbag that I really liked and asked how much it was for. “170 RM,” he said (3RM = $1). “170 RM?!” I dramatically exclaimed. “No, No, that’s before discount, for you, I make a price. 150 RM” he offered. “But I saw the exact same handbag a couple of shops back at 70RM” I lied. “But at 70RM I lose, I can’t, 100RM is the lowest I can offer you, please” he said. “Its ok, I’ll just go buy it from the other guy” I said and turned to leave when he gave in and said “No, No, I give it to you for 70RM”. I asked him to see the bag again and noticed there was a little rip on the side of it. At the same time, another Arab who must have heard me talking to Mum told us that there was a place up front with better quality leather and that we should buy from there. So, I returned the handbag and left. He called after me “50RM! 45RM! Don’t gooo!”. Seriously! He was willing to sell it for 45RM when he at first offered it for 170RM! Makes you realize how much they rip foreigners off! In the end, we found a store and bought five counterfeit designer handbags from him for only 150RM = $50!
We then went back to our room to drop the goodies off and continue our shopping frenzy. Shops close at 10:00 P.M. and it was because of that that we had to stop for the day… 10 A.M. till 10 P.M. we got some pretty good deals!
The next day we also spent it shopping in local malls until it was time to pack, check out, and head back home…
All in all it was a beautiful vacation, one of the best I’ve ever been on. But after nine days away, it feels good to finally be back home. Time to catch up with reality! ;-)
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